MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava, met with the Commandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Karl Leo Schultz, within the frames of the 31st Assembly of the International Maritime Organization in London.

The Director of the LEPL Maritime Transport Agency, Tamar Ioseliani, also attended the meeting. 

At the meeting, the sides discussed the Black Sea-related security issues and agreed to share the experience in terms of the maritime safety and security of ports and the national flag policy.

Special attention was paid to the project involving the single window services in the Georgian ports, which will be implemented in 2019-2020 to develop Georgia's transit potential. The project aims to provide the digital government services in the port sector, releasing vessels from bureaucratic barriers and unnecessary document development process. The project is being implemented by the LEPL Maritime Transport Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The first phase of the project, which envisaged the feasibility study was funded by the US Embassy in Georgia. The first stage involves the inventory of all maritime services and the analysis of the reduction of the existing bureaucracy, while the second stage - directly software development and running in working mode. 

During the meeting, the conversation also touched upon the audit of Georgian ports. The United States Coast Guard inspects the Georgian ports’ compliance with the security standards every two years. Georgia was top-ranked during the 2018 audit. The next audit is scheduled for 2020.